Regional MeetingAs mentioned last week Abbot Gerard and Fr. Stephen left yesterday for Holy Spirit Abbey in Conyers, GA to participate in the OCSO Regional Meeting. One of the purposes of the meeting is to prepare for the Order’s General Chapter coming up this September. As moderator of the meeting Abbot Gerard will be quite busy. They are scheduled to return Wednesday, June 21st.

Experimental Schedule
Also mentioned last week was the possibility of coming up with an experimental schedule for the Liturgy of the Hours. Well, the Abbot and his Council wasted no time in drawing it up and presenting it to the community. It will go into effect on Sunday, July 30th and continue for six months. At the end of that time the community will decide whether or not to continue with it, modify it a bit or discontinue it and return to the old schedule. You can find the new arrangement on the EXPERIMENTAL LITURGICAL SCHEDULE page.

Solemnity of the Sacred HeartSpeaking of schedules, the Mass for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, Friday, June 23rd will be at 9:30 AM followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament until Vespers and Benediction at 4:30 PM. For complete schedule of Daily Masses see our Daily Liturgical Schedule Page.

Lectio Notebook

TRINITY SUNDAY

The feast of the Holy Trinity reminds us that every Sunday’s gospel helps unfold the mystery of divine life: in each gospel Jesus makes the Father’s truth and love present in the world through the power of the Holy Spirit. Every Sunday’s Eucharist is the prayer of the church in living communion with the Risen Lord praising the Father through the power of the Spirit. Every good work we do is to share in Christ’s mission of making the Father’s truth and love present in the world because we share Christ’s Spirit. And we experience even now in faith some fulfillment of our human existence through the peace and joy of living in the communion of divine love with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The gospel of Trinity Sunday further reminds us of the constant reality which Jesus addresses in every gospel of the church year. That reality is the “world” which God loves so much as to give it his only Son. We are that world—human beings tragically alienated from God, alienated from each other, alienated from our own deepest personal identity as children of God. This is the world described in the first chapters of Genesis, in every evening’s TV news, in our own experience of life.

Particularly this year when many in our world seem to prefer darkness to light, we need to celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity with prayer of steadfast hope. God still does love the world. And we can still come out of its dark night to accept his only Son, whom he has given to us so that we might have life in him. Only in his light and in his life can we enjoy peace among ourselves and within ourselves, a peace that surpasses human understanding.